As a young police officer in Twin Falls, I made a traffic stop on a large motorhome that turned out to be stolen. The person stopped was an escapee from San Quinton Prison who had been on a killing spree in four different states. He was the most wanted fugitive in America and a serial killer. There were several recently murdered people in the back of the motorhome.

It was my favorite experience because I had done a lot of training getting my gun out of my holster and the training paid off for me. I can draw my gun from a threat level 2 holster in less than one second. I practiced and trained for weeks and months on my holsters draws to be able to accomplish this. I realized after the event that training will save lives and that is why I now teach young police officers how to stay alive with training. In a critical situation, people respond to a threat exactly as they have practiced and trained. If they have not practiced or trained, things usually go bad unless luck is involved. I got my gun out of the holster before he could draw his knife and stab me. When I saw he was drawing a knife, I drew my gun and was faster than him, and with my gun pointed at him, he decided to comply and followed my commands. If I had not been able to draw my gun faster than he could draw his knife, I would have died in my police car.

He was sent back to San Quinton Prison and soon thereafter was put to death in the electric chair. When you are confronted by someone trying to kill you, and you survive the encounter, life can take on new meaning.